Ground Floor
by Girl with the Iceheart
Summary: Birthday present to becauseyourdrawingsarethebest Gray was an idiot to be up at this hour. Who thought it was a good idea to do 3am baking? Now the alarm was going off and his hot neighbor was in his apartment.


A/N: It was requested ages ago by becauseyourdrawingsarethebest and I was planning to write this sooner and oh- anyway it's her birthday and she's definitely deserves something after all the effort she puts into her birthday drawings. Hope you have a great day!

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Gray should've known better than to be doing it this early in the morning. Who decided it was good idea to make brownies at 3 in the morning? He should be asleep, not baking. He had work in the morning, damn it, why did he have to have the sudden craving for brownies?

So it was of little surprise that he would make a mistake in the dim lighting; he wanted to be able to sleep soon after. He had been taking it slow to try and avoid making too much of a commotion – Gray didn't want to think what would happen to him if he woke either of his neighbours; Lucy and Erza weren't the nicest people tired.

Well, it seems he wasn't so smart tired he thought as the smoke alarm went off. He flinched at the high whine and quickly dropped the bowl onto the counter, hissing out swears. He switched off the stove, and frantically searched for the button on the alarm to switch it off. He tapped and prodded it, even whacking it, but he swore it got louder.

The raven haired jumped when the there was a thump on the door. He gulped, hoping against hope it wasn't Erza or Lucy – or god forbid, the terrifying bartender, _Mirajane_. He groaned and slammed his fist into the machine, hoping to try and break it.

"Just a minute!"

Gray felt his heart race in panic at a louder more insistent knock. Oh god, he was done for! Any moment now, the high pitch alarm screech would be drowned out by the sound of an angry-and tired she-demon breaking his door down.

"Oi! Need some 'elp?"

Gray felt his breath rush out in relief at the male voice. He didn't recognise it so it wasn't the 'manly' Elfman or the single dad from down the hall or the two guys the little author adjacent to him lived with. Leaving the screaming alarm, he stumbled to the door. Checking the peephole, out of habit, he felt his jaw drop.

Pink hair.

His face warmed in embarrassment when he realised that the one standing outside his door was the handsome guy from across the hall. He had no idea who he was only for a few things: he had a cat, he was friends with the little girl blue girl who lived upstairs and the pierced biker near the stairs, and that he was _very_ handsome.

And he had woken him.

Oh no.

He quickly flung open the door; best not keep him wa-

Oh.

Gray's mouth dropped when he realised that the pinkette was missing shoes.

And a shirt.

And pants.

Oh my god.

Gray couldn't think of anything , not even the need to shut up the incessant cries of the alarm, just that fact that his hot neighbour was in front of him and was nearly _naked_.

He shouldn't be _this_ shocked, seeing as how Gray often took a wonder around without much on, but-

The guy tilted his head, quirking an eyebrow. "You want help with that alarm?"

Oh right! Gray nodded briskly and the boxer-clad trotted in. He scanned the room before locating the obnoxious white disk. His hand reached up and tapped at a button hidden at the very side (that Gray somehow missed). Gray felt himself sigh in relief when the noise stopped; no murder by tired witches tonight!

The pinkette turned towards Gray and gave a bewitching smile. "I'm Natsu, by the way."

Gray's brain finally caught up and he nodded dumbly. He probably was looking pretty stupid, what with his mouth hanging open a minute ago. "I'm Gray. Sorry for waking you..."

Natsu shook his head and Gray caught himself watching the messy pink locks. "You didn't. Happy wanted to be fed; he can be very persuasive. Then I decided to do some cooking."

Gray had never had a cat but he knew it was common for cats to demand to be fed at unholy hours in the morning. Well at least Gray hadn't woken him up. He glanced away and cleared his throat, trying to avoid looking at the expanse of toned muscles on the other man. All he could do was pray that Natsu didn't notice that his neighbour had been replaced with a tomato. "So, uh, thanks for that."

Natsu shrugged his lean shoulders and Gray could feel his face getting hotter. Oh, was he screwed. "No problem, I set it off all the time." He looked at the counter and grinned at the batter. "Late-night baking?"

Gray nodded and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Brownies." Good god, Natsu must be thinking he was a complete dope, yet Gray didn't trust his tongue to try and say anything else when there was so much exposed flesh around.

"Cool!" Natsu laughed and turned back. Gray watched almost forlornly as the pinkette jogged back into his apartment. He didn't even say goodbye... however he gave a start when the pink haired came back in with a tray of un-iced cupcakes. "Cupcakes!" He chirped, very bubbly for someone awake this early.

And then he gave a wide, very beautiful grin that almost made him glow in the dim lighting.

"Wanna finish up together?"

"What?"

"Neither of us are gonna be sleeping much after this and I've gotta make sure that you don't set off the alarm again! So...?" he waved the cooling tray in a supposed to be attempt to be inviting, "You wanna bake together?"

"Sure"

* * *

A/N: Ah that sucked didn't it? Oh well here have a little story as an apology.

About a week ago, my mother was sleeping and woke up to hear music (she's a very light sleeper while I may as well be dead). Thinking that her neighbours were having a party she got up to find the culprit when she realised that it was coming from her own stereo.

One of the cats had turned it.

Gdi cats, why you gotta be nocturnal af?


End file.
